Stranger With a Familiar Face
by areuevernotgoingtofall4that
Summary: A death of a loved one sends Team Avatar reeling. Five years later, there's a threat that may bring them together or tear them further apart.


**I don't own Legend of Korra.**

 **A/N: If you don't like main character death fics please wait until the end of the chapter before jumping ship.**

 **Warning: as evidenced by it's T rating it's a little more mature than the cartoon series. May possibly go to M not because of sex cause this isn't ship heavy but because of violence and potentially sensitive subjects.**

 **I changed the summary because I realized that it doesn't actually summarize anything.**

 **Old summary: He only comes at night, and he's not really sure why except that's when no one else is there. He has to sneak over the wall and that's something that's more what his kid thief self would do rather than the respectable cop that he's supposed to be, but that doesn't stop him. All the other tombstones only get a pass over just enough to orient himself in the maze of graves.**

* * *

175 AG

He only comes at night, and he's not really sure why except that's when no one else is there. He has to sneak over the wall and that's something that's more what his kid thief self would do rather than the respectable cop that he's supposed to be, but that doesn't stop him. All the other tombstones only get a pass over just enough to orient himself in the maze of graves.

He doesn't need a light. He uses his fire to light the way to the familiar grave even though the familiar lead that fills his shoes is starting to creep in. By the time he gets ¾ of the way there he walking slower than well their grandmother. His grandmother, he corrects himself harshly not for the first time. His legs slow even more as the name of the tombstone comes into focus.

BOLIN

174 AG

He's seen it before, more than a dozen times but something in him dies a little every time he sees it, every time he's reminded that his baby brother is dead. Like their parents, he's never coming back. When he reaches the stone, he sort of fall to his knees, in a dignified fashion, or so he would claim if anyone were there but him.

It's been six months. Six months since the box was put into the ground. Empty because there wasn't enough of him to fill it, but still Mako keeps coming like it means something to be there. Like talking to a box means anything other than he was clearly losing what was left of his mind as he sat talking to nothing. But sat there he did on the grass that was wet enough to seep its way into his clothes if he hadn't come here often enough to plan for that.

"Hey Bolin, I know I said that I was going to talk to Korra and Asami...again but…",he gave a great sigh, "I couldn't. It's just...I miss you...and looking at them.." he sighed again. He could half imagine Bolin's anger at his stubbornness and him forcing the three of them back to together but only half...and it fizzles out before he could make himself imagine the reunion.

"Bolin?" he speaks and then waits for a moment. like Bolin is going really going to give a response from an empty grave, "I really miss you," he finished sadly but tears refuse to touch his eyes as he looks down on the grave.

* * *

 **6 months ago**

He had a nice coffin. It was all he could think about, all he would allow himself to think about is how nice the coffin was. Certainly, he could have never afforded back before when they had been living on the streets. Korra was trying to catch his gaze trying to probably give him some comfort or something but he avoided both hers and Asami's gazes and instead focused on the ground underneath them.

Suyin and Lin were there so they easily created the hole in which he was going to be buried...not that there was a body. Only four bodies had been recovered from the accident and those...they were barely bodies after the liner plunged into the ocean. The bodies had bloated and...well honestly he didn't like to think about it. Maybe it was for the best that Bolin hadn't been among the few who were found...intact.

He frantically shut those memories down and focused on the service. There were so many people there. Bolin would have loved seeing how many people cared about him...only he couldn't, cause, well he was dead. It still hadn't quite sunk it. Despite the coffin and the reason that they were all gathered together, Mako still half expected for his Bolin to wander down the aisle asking Mako what all these people were doing there and why hadn't he been invited. He heard some quiet sniffling and his mind snapped back to present as he saw a girl leaning tearfully against her mother who rested her arm around her back. Opal.

The two had just gotten back together after the whole Kuvira disaster and now…He looked back and realized it was now Asami who was speaking. Who had been speaking before her?...honestly he couldn't remember. His mind kept skipping around noticing the oddest of details. He could only hear the odd word that Asami was speaking and he was just glad that he had already said his part of it so his mind was free to roam around. All he had ever wanted to do was protect him, keep him safe and since they had gotten out of poverty and out of the triad he had thought that all of that danger was behind them. He had just been on a plane, on his way to the earth nation to render need-

All he had ever wanted to do was protect him, keep him safe and since they had gotten out of poverty and out of the triad he had thought that all of that danger was behind them. He had just been on a plane, on his way to the earth nation to render need-

People started standing up. Mako jerked slightly as he hadn't realized that the ceremony was over and now they were actually burying him. Burying him. His mind flashed back to his brother when he was six years old, grieving and looking to him to what they had to do now, now that their parents were dead. His round innocent eyes looking in his. He had sworn he would protect him. Protect his life and also his innocence for as long as he could.

Mako had failed. He had failed to protect him and Bolin was dead now. He should have gone with him, stayed with him, rather burying his head in the police department. He should have stopped him from going. He should've protected him. He squeezed his eyes shut as the guilt started in him again. And pushed it back again. He wasn't going to break down in front of all these people. He may not have been strong enough to save Bolin but he wasn't weak enough to fall apart in front of everyone.

So he kept the facade up as he stood with the others. He wasn't an earthbender, but there were plenty of them to go around. Opal's family was there as well, and Su's arm was still around her daughter despite her own grief. They were all here despite their own personal tragedy which made Baatar Jr's betrayal seem to almost pale in comparison. The normally energetic twins seemed somber as they hung to the side looking at their mother and sister like they weren't sure what to do. He swallowed harshly at that look.

Family. That look was family. He used to look at Bolin like; that worrying look, all the time when they were living on the streets, when they were sleeping in dumpsters. When he could hear his little brother's stomach growl because he was failing and he couldn't get them any food for the night. Bolin would too when he realized that Mako was hungry as well and if he got hurt. that made this pain so much worse as he realized that he was never going to have that again. Bolin was never going to give him that look again.

That realization made this pain so much worse as he realized that he was never going to have that again. Bolin was never going to give him that look again. Still, he refused to let the tears come as bits of dirt little by little buried the grave leaving behind a tombstone with no words other than his name and death date.

It wasn't until everyone had gone away...Korra and Asami required a little more persuasion than the rest...when he was finally alone that he allowed himself some weakness and allowed himself to cry.

* * *

She hasn't seen, I mean really seen Mako in about two years. He started pulling away after Bolin...after he died. Shut down really...focused on his career and pretty much gave up on everything else in his life. She understood...to a certain extent. Bolin was his brother...really as much as the two argued and how much the two got on each other nerves she knew that Mako had spent most of his life, even his childhood protecting his brother as best he could...only to lose him to a faulty nozzle of all things.

She wondered if he had grieved at all or just refused to think about it. Her relationship with Asami had been nice...especially in dealing with Bolin's death...she wasn't sure if she could have gotten through it without the other woman. But the two had grown apart when Korra's Avatar duties kept pulling her away from Republic City and two eventually went the same way as she and Mako and they decided not to see each other anymore.

They still kept in close contact though, met for tea when she was in the city, played some Pai Sho when they had time for a bit more than that, and caught up about what was going on the others life.

Which was different from Mako, who ignored every letter and every olive branch the two tried to extend to him. She knew it hurt both of them the way Mako had just shut the both of them out after Bolin's death so she didn't talk about it much with Asami but today was different. It was the anniversary of Bolin's death.

"Have you gotten a response back from him?" Korra asked even though she was pretty sure that she already knew what the answer was. He was stubborn and he hadn't answered her a long time.

"No," Asami answered with a swift shake of her jet black hair.

"So it's just the two of us...again," she said dispiritedly. Not that didn't want Asami there but she was just hoping that Mako would decide to stop being stubborn and let them in for once. But she guessed this year wasn't the year. She would just have to redouble her efforts and maybe next year would be the one.

* * *

He sighed and looked at the bottom drawer of his desk. He ignored it. Today was just another day. Today was just another day, he tried to convince himself, nothing special about it. Certainly nothing important happened on this day five years ago.

He winced as he suddenly felt disloyal. Bolin had died. It wasn't nothing. It had been everything. Just because he didn't want to get swallowed in the sadness that usually accompanied the anniversary of his death didn't mean he didn't remember. But he didn't want to think about it. That's why he was working late nights and had been all week. Lin understood, and rather than trying to get him to cut back, like she might have otherwise, she gave him more cases as long as she thought he could handle it.

Bolin would have been 25 now. Who knows what he would have looked like. Would he have stubble like him? Or would he be clean shaven? What would he be doing now? Would he have married Opal and had a ton of kids? He smiles briefly imagining Bolin surrounded by a bunch of kids, happy and healthy but the smile faded when he remembered that Bolin is dead and he had no idea what happened to Opal. Despite the fact that Lin is her aunt, they don't talk about them. Besides, what did it matter? All that matters is catching thieves and killers. Nothing else. Making sure that no one else has to suffer like the two of them did growing up. Making sure that no one has to suffer the loss of a brother.

When he finally decided to turn in for the night it was long past midnight and nearly all the offices he passed long since had gone dark. As he turned the corner he saw that there was still one light on in the building the direction it was coming from gave him a pretty good indication who it was.

He hesitated. It wasn't all that rare for Lin to be there later than the rest of everyone. Sometimes, he wondered if she even owned an apartment/house or just slept in the precinct all night. But she too had lost someone this night five years ago, even if she wasn't as close to him as he was to Bolin. He might as well say goodnight for the night, or show her he was still alive and maybe fill her in on some of his thoughts on some of the cases he was on.

The door seemed to be open, the way it never was during the day. Lin didn't seem to notice him, which was unusual as she always seemed keenly aware of her surroundings. She seemed to be looking at something intently on her desk but whatever it was he couldn't see because Lin's body was shielding it from view.

"Chief," he said. She looked up at him sharply but otherwise gave no indication on whether she had noticed him previously or hadn't. When she looked up she shifted her position enough so that he could catch a glimpse of what had stolen her attention. It was upside down and most of the letters were too small to read upside down at the distance he was at, but he recognized it as a newspaper. There was a picture too but half of it was under the fold and he couldn't tell what this half of it was upside down either.

"Mako," she said simply waiting for him to speak his peace and get out. This response in no way surprised him. However, now he was slightly curious about the newspaper, especially after he read the title. Zaofu News. Why would the chief be reading news as far as Zaofu and why the news? Surely anything from that region could be told to her of importance could be told in person or by a letter? If it was really important wouldn't their newspaper be reporting it as well?

"What's that?" he said motioning to the newspaper, curiosity getting the better of him. She gave her customary glare for when he asked questions she thought were stupid or she didn't want to answer, but apparently, it was just for show because she answered him regardless.

"Su sent it to me." He guessed that it had probably come from one of her relatives in Zafou, since it was their newspaper and most of the people they both knew were her relatives. He hated to pry, especially if it would put him on the wrong side of Lin but he was definitely curious now.

"Why?" She sighed and lifted up the paper. Mako frowned as it took him a little while to work out what the picture was. The main problem was the image was in black and white. So it almost looked like a river or lake had destroyed part of a farmhouse but there was white in it and little wisps of smoke that after a while let him know his first assumption was wrong. He looked up sharply at her hoping that she wouldn't confirm what his thoughts were leading him to conclude.

"There's a lavabender, attacking the earth nation." So much for that hope. "So far, just small towns and mostly property damage outside of Zaofu but Su's worried." Mako could understand why. Lava Benders were rare but as Ghazer had proved they could cause a lot of damage. But Ghazer was dead...and so was Bolin...as far as he knew there were no other lavabenders...except for maybe Korra. Even though he hadn't seen her in awhile he was sure that she wasn't attacking small towns in the earth nation. Still lavabending...was there a new bender out there?

Maybe they had just discovered their power and didn't quite have control over it. Maybe they just stuck to small towns so that they wouldn't accidentally damage anything...or maybe it was just the start.

"What is she going to do?"

"Try to find them and see if they're a threat," Lin stated even though he could have guessed that without her help.

"What is she going to do if they are," Lin didn't answer but Mako supposed she didn't have to.

* * *

Another dead kid. Mako thinks as he looks down at the covered body. Ever since someone introduced those guns, as they were calling them, there had been more and more deaths every week. People on both sides of it underestimated the force of them. Even though the things could only hold two or three depending on the type of gun if they were fired with enough accuracy they could be deadly.

There was now a new gang rising in prominence the took their name from an old war and called themselves, The Equalists much to the actual remnant to the Equalist ire but without Amon, there wasn't much they could do about it. It was a new thing having a non-bending gang not that their aims were much higher or more morally sound than their bending counterparts. In fact, if anything the non-bending were deadlier and more likely to kill than the others in order to instill the same level of fear at their name that the other gangs had taken years to get.

As such, they seemed to find the guns a great equalizing tool because only metalbenders could stop it and most of the time even then only if they saw it coming because of the quick speed. But the accuracy, especially with novices, wasn't great and a lot of accidental deaths had been called in over the last few weeks. Even the lavabender terrorizing the fire temples seemed to be using them as well, as least as far as he had heard.

This kid was 9 and apparently, his brother had bought a gun from the Equalists to protect them from benders after their mother died. Their father had ironically enough been an equalist before Amon was shown for what he was and he was currently imprisoned. Honestly, this whole situation was a little close to home. Two brothers, left alone, trying to make it in the world. This couldn't have happened to him and Bolin if they been born without bending and born a little later than they had been. Except, even though he had gotten Bolin to adulthood, he hadn't survived. The kids even shared their dark hair. 9 years old he thought as he took in the wound on his forehead.

This scene was just too close to home, he sighed as it was going to be a long night full of ghosts of the past.

* * *

She could tell something was wrong the moment she set foot on Air Temple Island. Rather than air races or goofing around or laughing through the Halls. There was a lot of glum faces, like something really bad had happened. She found herself quickening her pace until she was nearly running to Tenzin's room. He said there was urgent business, maybe that's what had everyone down.

"What happened ?" She demanded when Tenzin's worried face came into view. He looked up abruptly from whatever he was looking at that looked like a map. If anything, he looked more grave than the rest of the air temple.

"We lost the Eastern Air Temple." Korra's mouth dropped open in shock. She honestly hadn't expected something quite that dire.

"What?! How did that happen?"

"A lava bender."

"Ghazan?" Her mind went to immediately. She thought he was dead but technically they didn't have a body so it was possible she supposed. Tenzin shook his head.

"As far as we know he died the same day Ming-Hua."

"Do you know if any new lava benders?"

As far as I know, all the lava benders there were are dead," For a moment her stomach clenched in grief. Bolin was one of them. He had dead for five years at this point. She had thought the four of them could get through anything but they hadn't been able to get through his death. Tenzin looked at her compassionately apparently knowing where her mind had gone.

If Bolin were still alive…" she trailed off. Things would be so different and not just with having someone who could fight this new lavabending threat using his own weapon. But things would be different personally. Maybe, it would still be the four of them, rather than just her and sometimes Asami. Mako only joined when there was a serious threat that threatened Republic City and only spoke few if any words to either of them. But she shrugged because he was dead and being locked in the past wasn't going to do anything to bring him back.

" Korra," he paused and Korra knew that whatever he was going to say would be serious. "Some of the Air Acolytes didn't make it." Korra sat down hard. No wonder everyone was so depressed.

"How many?"

"About a dozen."

" One bender killed a dozen people?" she said quietly, almost not able to believe it.

"There were only a few airbenders there at the time and the lavabender started melting it right away. The airbenders did everything they could to get them out safely." She could hurt the hint of defensiveness in his tone that many might miss.

"I'm not blaming you, just trying to understand." Tenzin shook his head but still understandably looked troubled by the whole thing. A calamity of this magnitude hadn't been experienced by the air nation since Suzin's attack.

"When did this happen?"

"We just received news yesterday, but it happened the day before." Two days ago? She had been in the Earth Nation providing security and peace at a political rally for the new upcoming elections. She should have been there.

"Korra, there's no way you could have known. There no way that anyone could have known. There was no warning, no provocation, no attacks except on some small earth nation's towns and that was only property damage." Still, she should have known. She should have been attuned and known something was wrong even if no one else could or did.

"Do we know what he wants?" She asked not feeling hopeful because she was pretty sure if they did know that Tenzin would have told her. He shook his head confirming it.

"I hope it's not like like Zaheer, crazy anarchists, complete with destructful lava bender."

"Hope not," Tenzin agreed.

* * *

There was nothing she could do. Since both the Northern and Eastern Air Temples were defunct, the survivors went to the Southern Air Temple which made sense because those who were injured in the attack also were able to go to the Southern Water Tribe for treatment from their healers. Those who hadn't come back already, wouldn't be back for another week or two. Just in case the others were going to send representatives to the remaining West and South Air temples to protect it, in case it wasn't an isolated incident. Tenzin tried to control her a lot less now that she was older. He said it was up to her if she went to protect a temple or went back to the earth kingdom for protection. Honestly, right now she'd prefer him trying to tell her what to do so she wouldn't have to decide for herself.

She hadn't really decided so she decided to visit an old friend. She hadn't seen Asami in a few months and despite Asami's insistence that she would always have time for her, she knew Asami was an incredibly busy woman. She wasn't even entirely sure Asami would be at Future Industries headquarters but if she wasn't maybe the walk there and back would clear her head and help her think of what to do. She had just made her past Yue Bay and into the thick of Republic City when she heard panicked screams echoing in the cool night air.

Maybe other people would run away from the sound of screams, but as The Avatar she always ran towards it, as far as her feet or bending could carry her. In a manner of minutes, she managed to trace the screaming back to its source. No one was more surprised when a figure cloaked in black was lavabending right in front of her.

It was difficult to see any distinguishing features of the man, or even if it was indeed a man due to the dark cloak that blended so well into the night it shielded him mostly from view. But as he stamped on the ground and moved his arms lava was coming up from the ground and were causing nearby buildings to crumble. Thankfully it was night and while some of the buildings were looking shaky none of them had crumbled yet.

She used her airbending and earthbending to keep the buildings from crumbling, in case there were some people still working. Only to get attacked by pieces of metal from the buildings and bits of earth. It took everything to fight both the bits of debris attacking him and keep her focus on keeping the building from crumbling.

Unfortunately, her attention was too divided and she didn't notice until it happened that the lava had also been creeping up on an adjacent building, until that one hit the ground with a boom. It made her lose her attention for a split second, causing the building she was defending to fall down with another large boom. She just had to hope there was no one in the buildings and that it was just property damage that everyone in the area had already long run away.

The area below her was swimming in lava, thankfully she could airbend her way over it without it touching her. She didn't set down until she found the small spot of untouched earth around the lavabender.

"Why are you doing this?" she yelled angrily the still cloaked man she as the man had already killed 12 Air Acolytes. The man answered by way of trying to attack her using a metal whip-like-vine and she just darted out of the way in time. The cloaked man kept attacking her and honestly he was a lot better at it than many of the others who she fought- almost like he knew what she was going to do right before she did it. At the same time his attacks as they wore on started seeming similar to her as well, almost like she had seen that style somewhere before, especially with earth. But it was strange because she was sure she had never met this person before. Lavabending was rare and both known recent users of it had died more than five years ago. So this feeling of familiarity it was honestly baffling.

After a vigorous airpush he was knocked backward. For a moment, Korra was a little worried that she had knocked him right into his lava but he was an earthbender and caught himself before he went in. However, the movement did knock his hood loose and for the first time, Korra could actually see who she was fighting.

His face lit up in the light of the lava all around them. The most noticeable thing was the scar that ran from right below the left eye all the way down to his chin. It was dark and wide and obviously from a long time ago. For a moment, she wondered where he had gotten it from before she pushed the thought out and took stance again. However, she still noted some of his other features. He was thin but strong looking still. His hair was cut short, and his red robes were peaking out from under the black cloak. even though he clearly was not fire nation.

There was something familiar about his face. Had she seen it before somewhere? The newspapers had never put his picture out. Probably because no one had gotten a picture. No one knew who this guy was. Until he attacked the villages then the air nations, no one had even known about him. Why did he look familiar? Why did he seem familiar? She shook her head she couldn't afford to be distracted, not when he might take advantage.

"I'll give you one more chance to stop this," she said even though they hardly ever took it. He lifted his head slightly and his green eyes stared into hers.

"No, Avatar," he spoke her title without inflection, just a simple acknowledgment but something about it chilled her to the bone. Wrong. Wrong there was something wrong about all of this. There was something so familiar about him, about those eyes those green eyes.

It all snapped into place in a moment and she gasped bringing a hand to her mouth.

"Bolin?" His once brilliant green eyes turned to Korra, they lacked any measure of recognition. Maybe she was just seeing what she wanted to see. After all Bolin died five years ago. But his eyes were still green the same green, only different, colder sharper and indifferent. What's more there was something in her that could sense that this was her friend, despite the physical and mental differences. The fact that he could lavabend only strengthened it further. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to think.

After all, it wasn't every day that one of your best friends came back from the dead...not to mention that he was different. So different. The fact that the two of them were surrounded by lava and building were slowly crumbling around them spoke well of that. Why would he be doing this? Bolin was a good person. He may have gotten mixed up with Kuvira but as soon as he knew she was up to no good he had left and had helped stop her. He was a good person...then why this?

"Bolin stop this!"

"I'm not Bolin, I'm Wuqi," Korra looked into his eyes and wondered again if maybe she was making a mistake. After all, the two had very little in common. This man's voice was deeper and he was an inch taller and while his eyes had the same pale green eyes, his were startling cold rather than lit by a joke or anything Bolin like. Down the left side of his face was a long scar disfiguring him, but something about him still said Bolin, even though she knew that he was supposed to be long dead.

He started advancing on her and she was too surprised to protect herself like she normally would. Korra hissed as the metal whip made contact with her left shoulder. But even as she brought her hands up to defend herself, she found herself unable to attack. It was Bolin. It had to be Bolin, she could feel it. It was him and she couldn't attack him, not when she had just got him back, even if he wasn't acting anything like himself. Because the Bolin she knew wouldn't hurt anyone. He had been racked with guilt when he had found out he was wrong about Kuvira. Plus he had answered to a different name, but her instincts weren't telling her she was wrong but that something very wrong had happened to Bolin, something that had changed him made him different.

"Bolin, Mako missed you a lot," she said the first thing that popped into her mind to try to get him back to the Bolin she remembered. It was true. Mako had never been the same after Bolin's death, well she supposed after his fake death. The whip paused briefly and Bolin looked at her rather confused for a brief moment before his face cleared of emotion but that look, that look had Bolin written all over it.

"I have no idea who you're talking about," he spoke with a slight edge of irritation for the first time an emotion showed up in his voice, though she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. But it definitely wasn't good that he couldn't' seem to remember his brother. If it wasn't for the feeling, she would think that she was crazy to even think that the two were the same, well that and the lavabending. He advanced on her and she moved slightly backward towards the line of lava behind her.

"Don't you know who I am?" she asked her voice trembling ever so slightly, not with fear but with trying to keep herself from crying. Though she knew if he couldn't remember Mako, his brother, odds are he wouldn't remember her either.

"You're The Avatar," he said plainly, as if he only knew her by name and hadn't been her best friend for years. Her mind went back to five years ago and the moment that she had heard that Bolin wasn't coming back and the grief came crashing back down on her with a vengeance tempered slightly with relief.

He wasn't dead. Bolin was alive and standing right in front of her. Only different, so different. It was like day and night, how different he was now. She looked at the long scar down his face and then down to his wrists which were exposed as he was still paused like he wasn't sure what to do with her, to her. There were white scars all around them and for a moment she felt like throwing up. Someone had hurt Bolin, someone had hurt him badly.

Maybe that's why he was acting so strangely? Maybe that's why he couldn't seem to remember her or Mako because someone hurt him, someone had made him this way. Had created the cold dead look in his eyes as he looked at her, like it wouldn't matter to him if he tossed her into one of the lava pits growing around the two of them. Someone had hurt her best friend, bad.

"You can't stop me," he looked back at her emotionlessly again.

"What happened to you?" She asked trying to mirror his emotionless nature when all she wanted to do was cry, well take Bolin home to Mako then cry, but they were still surrounded by lava. A slightly puzzled look now took over his face.

"I don't know you," he said. There were a million things she wanted to say, all at the same time. Where had he been for the past five years? Who had him? Why had they taken him? How badly had they hurt him? Did he know that they thought he was dead? Had he spent the last five years thinking that they all had abandoned him? What did they do to him to make him like he was? But before she could ask any of these question sirens were heard in the distance. Both she and Bolin turned in the direction of the sirens. She could tell what was going to happen a moment before it did. Before the first car stopped Bolin used a metal whip to swing himself out of the area leaving her alone in the lava. A small section of her mind noted that he finally learned how to metal bend.

But before she could ask any of these questions, sirens were heard in the distance. Both she and Bolin turned in the direction of the sirens. She could tell what was going to happen a moment before it did. Before the first car stopped, Bolin used a metal whip to swing himself out of the area leaving her alone in the lava. A small section of her mind noted that he finally learned how to metal bend.

* * *

"Korra? Are you okay?" Mako said coming onto the scene. He had no idea Korra was even going to be in Republic City. He had just heard about the lava raining down, then metal and earth moving and he came to stop the lavabender before he killed anyone. He hadn't even recognized Korra until about a block ago. She looked pale as she looked down at the dying embers that the lava bender had so graciously left behind.

"Korra? Korra?! Are you okay!" Finally, he seemed to break her from whatever trance she had been in. She seemed to take in his appearance after a moment and then jumped about a foot in the air. She was staring at him open-mouthed now and Mako had no idea what to do about it. She was acting really oddly. She looked the direction that the lavabender had fled in and back to him, several times.

"Korra?" he asked again because she had never answered if she was okay or not. Physically, she seemed fine, except for maybe some minor burns where the lava almost got her and for a cut across her shoulder. Mentally, her mind seemed elsewhere. Maybe her injuries were more serious than it looked.

"You'll get him next time," he tried to say reassuringly hoping to bring her back to herself but all this did was cause her to bite her lip and stare in the direction that the lavabender had gone off in. Mako wondered if he hurt her or if there was something else at work.

"This is going to sound crazy but I think Bolin is alive."

* * *

 **Let me know what you thought :)**


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